


The Greatest Wingman

by someofthissomeofthat11011



Category: Simon vs. the Homo Sapiens Agenda - Becky Albertalli
Genre: M/M
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2018-04-30
Updated: 2018-04-30
Packaged: 2019-04-30 08:58:09
Rating: Not Rated
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 6,282
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/14493426
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/someofthissomeofthat11011/pseuds/someofthissomeofthat11011
Summary: Takes place from Garrett’s perspective. Simon has been outed to the school and Bram is terrified to tell Simon who he is. Garrett unintentionally discovers that Bram is gay and when he confronts Bram, he realizes Bram is in love with Simon. Garrett figures there’s no harm in fanning the flames… a little.





	The Greatest Wingman

 

I glanced around Bram’s room, steeling myself for the uncomfortable conversation I needed to have. Bram had been acting weird - really weird and I knew there was something going on. He’d been a little withdrawn all year, but it had gotten pretty bad right before Bram went to visit his dad in Savannah. I wasn’t sure if something happened with his dad and his stepmom or between his dad and his mom, or if it was something else entirely. But I knew it was something.

Every conversation we’d had while he’d been in Savannah had seemed forced and strained. When I had been talking to him two days before New Years, he had actually hung up on me, claiming that his stepmom needed him to fold laundry. We had been talking close to midnight and he’s already told me that his dad and stepmom were asleep.

They day Bram got back from Savannah, I was in his room. He was complaining about his future half-sibling and how much of a nightmare his stepmom had been this past week. As a rule of thumb, we don’t really talk about our feelings. We more so complain about what we need to complain about. We don’t try to offer an answer to one another, we just listen and let the other get it all out. It’s one of the reasons that we were so close.

But it also meant that we both struggled with starting difficult conversations with each other. I had no idea how to talk to him about his odd behavior. “So…” I said after he had been quiet for a few minutes. “You seem… like you’re upset about something. About something more than your dad and stepmom getting pregnant.”

Bram glanced at me. “I’m just working through some stuff,” he admitted.

I sighed. “We don’t talk much,” I said after a moment.

“We talk,” Bram argued.

“We really don’t,” I said resolutely. I was looking down at Bram’s faded carpet, because I didn’t think I’d be able to say what I needed to say otherwise. “We hang out a lot and when one of us has something to say, like we listen. But we don’t talk. And in case that made you feel like there is something you can’t talk to me about, I want to clear this up now. You are my best friend. If you need me for anything, I am here for you. If you need my advice on something, I will help you however I can.” I finally looked over at him. “If you need help working through some things, I’m here. You don’t have to do this alone.”

“There are some things you can’t help me through,” Bram said quietly. “Some things that I have to go through alone.”

“No,” I argued. “I may not have a half-sibling or divorced parents, but that doesn’t mean you’re alone. I’m here for you man.”

Bram was silent for a long time. “I’m gay.” I could feel his eyes on me, watching my reaction. It made me hyper vigilant in guarding my expression.

“Okay,” I said quietly. “Thank you for telling me.” I felt like I should be surprised, but I wasn’t. I felt like this explained so much: how he shied away from any talk about girls; how he would turn red whenever one of their teammates jokingly called something gay;  even how he would stare at Simon a little longer than appropriate. I wondered if I was imagining that last bit just because I knew Simon was also gay. “Is it okay if I ask you a question?”

“Ask away,” Bram said.

“If this is like offensive in anyway, you don’t have to answer this. I don’t really know how to talk about this stuff, so in case my question like makes it seem like I’m not okay with you being gay or like I’m a complete douchebag, I want to say this. I may not know how to talk about this stuff, but you’re my best friend and I love you. If you want this to be a big deal, I’ll make it a big deal. I’ll go to pride parades with you or like do whatever you need. If you want nothing to change, nothing will change. Just let me know what you want.” I felt like I was rambling, but I felt like it was warranted. I had a feeling that this was going to be a pivotal moment in our friendship, one that would either make or break it. Bram looked like he was tearing up, so I hoped I had said the right thing. “And my question… Did you know Simon is gay?”

“How did you…” Bram started to ask. He didn’t need to finish for me to know what he’s asking.

“You didn’t hear? Someone outed him on Christmas eve,” I told him. I was surprised he hadn’t heard, especially since his only lifeline in Savannah was the internet.

Bram’s face goes blank. “He was outed to the world,” he whispered.

“Yeah, I guess you could call it that,” I agreed.

“No, that’s what he told me,” Bram muttered.

“So you did know?” I confirmed.

“Well, yes and no. I had my suspicions it was him, but I didn’t know for sure until… right now,” he explained.

“I’m not following you,” I admitted.

Bram bit his lip. “It’s a long story.”

“I’ve got all night,” I said. I leaned back in the desk chair I had been sitting on and put my feet up on his desk.

He rolled his eyes. “Fine. I posted to creeksecrets in August and anonymously came out as gay.”

“I remember that post. I didn’t know that was you,” I said surprised. I remembered speculating over who it could have been and now I felt embarrassed about that. I guess it's all fun and games until it’s your best friend. It never should have been a joking matter to me and I felt childish that it ever had been.

“Yeah, well, that was kind of the point. I didn’t want anyone to know it was me, but I wanted to know what it felt like to come out,” he explained.

That actually made sense to me. “And how did it feel?” I pressed.

“Terrifying. I definitely wasn’t ready to really come out, but I think I was meant to post it,” Bram explained.

“How do you mean?” I asked curiously.

“Someone… I now know it was Simon, commented on it with their email address. I sent him a message and for over four months, we’ve been emailing back and forth. I’ve been using the nickname Blue and he’s been using the nickname Jacques.”

“Oh, that’s really clever,” I said. Bram looked at me confused. “Jacques a dit, right? Didn’t you have to play that in French class?”

“I take Spanish. What is Jacques a dit?” He asked.

“Simon says in French. Madame Blanc made us play it when we were learning body parts. Simon Says touch your nose. Jacques a dit touchez-vouz le nez. Or something like that. French isn’t my best subject,” I explained.

“It was right in front of my face this whole time. You’ve got to be kidding me. How did I not know this?” Bram asked.

“I mean, I don’t think it’s like common knowledge to most people or he probably wouldn’t have chosen it,” I pointed out. That looked like it made Bram feel a little better. “So you’ve been his secret penpal for months?” Bram nodded and bit his lip. “What is it?” I couldn’t help but ask. He looked nervous again.

“He’s not just my penpal,” Bram muttered quietly. He turned a shade of red I’ve never seen on a person before.

“You love him,” I said. I hadn’t meant to say it out loud, but the moment I did, I knew I was right.

“Love?” Bram asked. It came out sounding squeaky. “I don’t love - I can’t. We’ve never even had a conversation in person. I can’t be in love with him.”

“What do you call it then?” I asked.

“Do you believe someone can fall in love over email?” Bram asked, his voice barely audible.

“Do you?” I countered. I had no idea whether that was possible, but I also knew he was looking for an answer I couldn’t give him. Only he could know whether or not he had fallen in love.

“I don’t know.” He pressed his eyes closed tightly and put his hands over his head. “I do know that I think about him all the time and he makes me a better person, and knowing he’s Simon doesn’t change how I feel about him.”

“Then I think you have your answer,” I told him quietly.

Bram turned red. “Maybe.”

I didn’t push him anymore that night. I figured we had both reached our soul-bearing thresholds for probably for the next several days. I felt inexplicably exhausted, as if I just ran a marathon or something.

“Did you do the algebra homework?” I asked, flipping open my textbook. “I have no idea what I’m doing.”

“I did the homework, but I’m kind of in the same boat. I have no idea what’s going on in that class,” Bram told me.

He let me copy his homework anyway.

The next day, when we walked into the school I said hi to Simon while Bram awkwardly stood at my side and pretended to be oblivious to Simon. “So, you’re just gonna be awkward and quiet around him now?” I asked once we got to my locker.

“He won’t even notice a difference.” Bram’s wasn’t wrong. He was usually quiet at lunch. I never really thought anything of it, but now I wondered if Simon had something to do with that.

I closed my locker and we began to walk to English class. Bram suddenly froze in the middle of the hallway. I followed his gaze to see a football player holding Simon’s cheeks as if he was going to kiss him. I put my hand on Bram’s shoulder, worried that he was going to try to intervene. That would only get him hurt. Plus, Simon immediately pulled himself away and practically ran to English class.

I looked at Bram and was only partially surprised to see the pained expression on his face. “What are you going to do?” I asked.

“What can I do? I’m not ready for him to know.” Bram looked frustrated, as if he wished he could move mountains, but he knew there was no way to subtly do that.

“So you’re just going to let him go through this alone?” I asked incredulously. I immediately saw Bram shut down. “Sorry, sorry. I just meant that if anyone can understand what he’s going through, it’s you.”

Bram nodded. “I have to go to my locker before English class.” He walked in the opposite direction of his locker and didn’t walk into English class until over two minutes after the late bell rang. Mr. Wise let it go. Partially because Bram was easily his best student and partially because Bram was never late.

Once the bell rang, I caught him before he was able to escape. “I’m sorry about before. I didn’t mean to insult you,” I explained. “We don’t need to talk about this anymore.”

“Thanks,” he muttered as he finished packing up his stuff. “See you at lunch.”

He seemed to be in a better mood during lunch. He managed not to blush too hard as the girls at our table talked about romantic prospects for Simon. This conversation really pissed off Leah and she left the table in a huff. I looked at Bram and raised my eyebrows, knowing that he was the only romantic prospect for Simon. Bram bit his lip and I knew he understood my silent message.

“If you like her, just ask her out,” Simon suddenly said, glaring at Bram.

It took everything in my power not to laugh. Simon could be so oblivious sometimes. I didn’t miss how red Bram turned.

I brought it up at soccer practice later. “So Spier thinks your straight.”

Bram nearly choked on his water. “What a way to start a conversation,” he grumbled.

“You’ve got to drop a hint or something,” I encouraged.

“I don’t have to do anything,” Bram retorted.

Before I was able to say anything, coach blew his whistle and we all flocked around him. We were catching our breath as coach told us we’re done and that he would see us tomorrow. This was usually our time to goof off, but I saw Nick run towards the fence and saw that Abby and Simon were watching our practice. “Come on,” I told Bram before I ran after Nick. I knew without looking that he was following me.

“It’s weird that they’re making you try out again,” said Abby.

“I know,” I said when Nick and Bram didn’t speak. “It’s like a formality. Kind of. Just to see like, where he wants to put us.” I didn’t realize I was still catching my breath until I had to take some long deep breath while I was talking.

Nick and Abby went  back and forth for a minute which made everyone uncomfortable. I was surprised that the two of them hadn’t gotten together yet. They practically flirted with each other 24/7.

Simon was apparently as uncomfortable as we were, because he turned to me and Bram and for the first time ever, he started a conversation with us. “So it’s going well?” he asked.

“Pretty well.” I intentionally didn’t say much to give Bram the opportunity to add something, but he just nodded.

“What happens if you really screw up the audition? Can they kick you off the team?” Simon asked.

I was about to tell him that coach knew us, so probably not, when Bram shocked me by speaking. “Audition?” he asked. He has a small smile on his face and it takes me a minute to realize that he was actually putting himself out there… kinda… in his own Bram way.

“Tryouts,” Simon corrected. He blushed and when he and Bram made eye contact, I felt like I was intruding on a private moment. The moment was short-lived, because pretty soon we were all going our separate ways.

Bram was jumpy and nervous the rest of the week. He had barely uttered a word at school the past week and when he did speak… it was weird. He would drop sentences halfway through or ramble about something entirely unrelated. But the thing that worried me the most was the vacant look in his eyes. It made me feel like he was there, but wasn’t mentally there. He’d also been pointedly avoiding me all week.

That weekend he couldn’t avoid me. Because, God bless Ms. Dillinger, that’s why. She put us together to work on a history paper and since he ignored me the entire week, he had no choice but to meet with me on Sunday to work on it.

“Can I borrow your laptop? I need to look something up.” Bram barely looked at me as he passed me his laptop. He looked right back at his history textbook, but I knew his mind was far, far from our paper. For one thing, he had been staring at the same page of the textbook for over an hour.

When I opened his laptop, the draft of something popped up. At first I thought it was our history assignment, but once I started to read it, I realized it was an email to Simon. And once I started reading, I couldn’t stop.

_Simon,_

_I have written and rewritten this email so many times and I still haven’t found words that are adequate enough for this. I can’t do this anymore. I’m sorry. I’m so sorry._

_You’re right that everything is different now that I know who you are and more importantly, now that I know I’m not who you wanted me to be. I can’t unknow that you wanted me to be someone else, someone that you clearly have feelings for._

_These last months have meant everything to me and before I say goodbye, I want to thank you. You made me more comfortable with my sexuality than I ever thought I could be. My parents know this deep secret of mine that I spent so much time hiding for five years. I even came out to my best friend. And that is all thanks to you._

_I will never forget that you were here for me in a time when I desperately needed a friend that understood me. This will be my last email. Bye Simon._

_-Blue_

I read the email three times. I couldn’t help myself.

“What happened?” I asked without looking away from his computer.

“What?” He looked over at me and I didn’t need to see him to know he was confused.

“What happened between you and Simon that would make you write this?” I asked again.

“Did you read my email?” He sounded pissed and rightfully so. This was an invasion of privacy, but he obviously hadn’t been planning on sharing this with me, so I couldn’t make myself feel too guilty.

“What happened?” I asked with more force.

Bram glared at me, but I didn’t back down. I watched as several emotions flickered across Bram’s face before he looked like he was going to cry. “I don’t know what to do.” I was shocked by how broken his voice sounded.

“Talk to me,” I said gently.

Bram let himself fall back against his bed. “It’s Simon. I told him I knew who he was and he tried to guess who I was. He guessed wrong. He doesn’t want it to be me,” Bram explained. His voice sounded strangely monotone.

I frowned. “Did you tell him who you are?” I asked surprised. I would have thought that was something he would have told me earlier.

“No,” he admitted.

“Then how do you know he doesn’t want it to be you?” I challenged.

“If he wanted it to be me, he would have guessed it,” Bram grumbled.

“You sound like a little kid,” I chastised. I knew that I was the pot calling the kettle black when I told Bram he was acting childish, but it needed to be said. “He’s not going to experience divine intervention and suddenly know that it’s you without any like support from you. You need to lead the horse to water if you want it to drink. You found out who he is, like why won’t you give him the same opportunity?”

“I… that’s different. If he doesn’t want it to be me, why should I force him?” Bram asked.

“Did he tell you that? Did he say Bram, I didn’t want it to be you? He hasn’t, because he doesn’t know who you are. Like yeah, he made a guess, but you just said that you’ve never even had a conversation with him. How was he supposed to guess you? You need to give him a chance.” I wasn’t yelling, but I was definitely not using what Bram’s mom would call ‘an appropriate inside voice’.

“How?” Bram asked.

“You know more about him than I do. Get him a little something that would mean something to him,” Garrett said. “And most importantly, show him that you care and that he’s not alone. You’re never going to have the chance to find out if he wants it to be you if you don’t give him the chance to make that choice.”

Bram frowned for a minute before he sat right up. “Feel like going for a ride?” He asked.

“Where are we going?” I asked. I was already standing up and putting my shoes back on.

“We need to go to that music place. I don’t even know what it’s called, but it’s the place that still sells records,” Bram said. “It’s in the mall.”

“Let’s go,” I said. I had to wait in the doorway while Bram found his wallet and his shoes. It was a sign of how nervous Bram was that he spent two minutes trying to put his shoes on the wrong feet.

“So what are we looking for?” I asked as we pulled up to the mall. Bram had spent the entire trip clutching his hands in fists.

“Simon is really into Elliott Smith. I know he owns every song ever written by him, but he doesn’t own a single t-shirt. He thinks it would be cheating if he’s never gone to a concert and for obvious reasons that's now out of the question,” Bram explained hastily. The mall was only open about 20 more minutes, so they needed to get in and get out.

I was glad it made sense to him, but I had no idea what he was talking about. “Who’s Elliott Smith?” I asked.

“This singer that died in 2003,” Bram said quickly. I’m guessing he didn’t have time to give me Elliott Smith’s life story. A tired looking cashier was straightening out stacks of CDs and looked grumpy when she saw us. “I’m looking for an Elliott Smith t-shirt.”

“I don’t know if we have anything, but it would be in the back.”

We rushed to the back of the shop. There were three large bins filled with t-shirts. “Divide and conquer. Anything with Elliott Smith on it will do,” Bram told me.

We searched for several minutes. I was checking the tags because I had no idea who Elliott Smith was. I found a shirt with a strange icon on it. The tag read ‘E. Smith.’ “The tag says Elliott Smith, but it could be mislabelled. There’s nothing written on the shirt.”

The shirt had two deep, navy blue lines on either side of a bright red one. The lines snaked like a road disappearing on the horizon. “That’s from one of his albums.” Bram looked like he could have squealed. “Figure 8.”

“So is this what you want?” I asked uncertainly.

“Yes. Absolutely,” Bram said eagerly. He brought the shirt to the check-out counter and didn’t think twice before he bought it. He really, really liked Simon.

Bram held the shirt tightly in his hands the whole ride home. When we got back to his house, he pulled out some construction paper and wrote his note. I read it over his shoulder

_I'm assuming Elliott understands that you would have made it to his shows if you could have._

“You can do better than that,” I groaned. “That doesn’t tell him how you feel!” Bram frowned so I felt I needed to clarify. “You said before that he doesn’t know who you are. Why don’t you give him a hint?”

Bram stared down at the floor and looked like a lightbulb went off. He wrote for a minute and then showed me his note. “Do you think it’s too much?” He asked worriedly.

“Like, I think Spier’s gonna freak out,” I said honestly.

“Ugh. It is too much.” Bram was about to crumple up his note when I stopped him.

“No, it’s not too much! He’s going to freak out in a good way,” I assured him. “You’re giving him your number. Are you sure you’re like ready for that?”

“It’s like you said. I’ve got to give him a chance.” Though Bram wasn’t sure he believed that. He felt like he was going to throw up.

“So like how are you going to give it to him?” I asked curiously.

Bram froze. He looked like he had forgotten that he would need to get the shirt from point A to point B. “His locker,” he finally said. “I’ll get to school early tomorrow and hang it from his locker.”

“And then what?” I asked.

“That will be up to him,” Bram said. “I haven’t exactly been the nicest person to him these last couple of days. If he doesn’t want to do anything with me anymore, that will be up to him.”

“Really?” I raised my eyebrows skeptically. I couldn’t imagine that he was going to be fine if Simon decides to drop him.

“I mean it will suck, but what else can I do?” Bram asked.

“You can start not being afraid to be near him,” I pointed out. “Tell you what. Find one chance tomorrow to like smile at him or just like not look mortally terrified to be around him. Like, that’s not too big, right? Just smile.” Bram promised that he would, but I kept an eye on him the next day and the only time he smiled at Simon was when Simon wasn’t looking.

“He clearly wants nothing to do with me,” Bram ranted when we were in his bedroom the following Saturday. He hadn’t heard a peep from Simon and it was definitely starting to get to him.

“You don’t know that. He’s had a busy couple of weeks. I mean, you saw him in the play yesterday,” I pointed out. Bram sighed dreamily. He hadn’t been able to take his eyes off of Simon during lunch, and he wasn’t the only one. Half the girls in the school seemed to ogle at him during lunch. “Wow. You’ve got it bad.”

Bram mumbled something about eyeliner that I didn’t quite hear. When I raised my eyebrows, Bram shrugged. “It doesn’t matter how I feel. He’s made his decision.”

“He’s busy right now. You’ve heard Abby complaining about the play. She says she barely has time to breathe with their schedule,” I pointed out.

“Too busy that he can’t send a text message?” Bram questioned.

“He probably wants to send you something thoughtful,” I suggested quickly. “He wants to take his time and he can’t do that right now.” Bram continued pacing. “Okay. I’m calling my brother. You need a distraction.”

“Your brother’s idea of a distraction usually ends in an alcohol-induced coma,” Bram grumbled. “Plus, I don’t need a distraction. I need…”

“You need Simon?” I guessed.

Bram sighed. “I don’t think I realized how much until this past week. I was angry, really angry at first that he hadn’t guessed I was me, but it seems so petty now. And now it might be too late; I think I already ruined everything.”

“Give him time,” I sighed. “We have a long weekend and your birthday is tomorrow. I refuse to let you wallow in self-pity. Let’s go.”

“Where are we going?” Bram asked.

“For a drive until you figure out what we can do so you don’t reign in 17 like a mope,” I warned.

We ended up driving around Atlanta for two hours. It was really chilly, but that didn’t stop us from rolling the windows all the way down and opening my moonroof. Bram closed his eyes and leaned back in his seat. I didn’t try to talk to him. I let him take this moment to regroup and let it all out.

When we got back to Bram’s house, we almost immediately fell asleep in Bram’s room. I stayed with Bram all day on his birthday and we went out to dinner with his mom. I refused to let him so much as think about Simon. On Tuesday at school, Bram didn’t take his eyes off of Simon. The look on his face while Simon was eating sheet cake made it so obvious that he had feelings for Simon. I wondered how no one else had picked up on his feelings, but then I remembered that I had also been oblivious to it until recently.

“So… do you want to go to the play tomorrow night?” Bram asked me Thursday afternoon at soccer practice. He was trying to sound nonchalant, but I knew him well enough to know he really wanted to go.

“Sure thing,” I said. I didn’t make a big deal about it and I resisted the urge to tease Bram. “But only if you find a way to talk to Spier at some point this weekend.”

“I’ll do my best.” He doesn’t even sound like he believes himself.

“I’m serious man,” I warned. “I’ll go see every performance with you, but only if you man up and like make a move with him.”

“I’ll try,” Bram promised. “That’s all I can give you. I’ll try.”

“Good enough,” I said, passing the ball to Bram.

I didn’t think he was going to take my offer seriously, but we went to see every performance. I pretended to be bothered by this, but I really was happy to do what I could for Bram.

On Sunday, after the matinee performance, we found ourselves in a booth at Waffle House. Almost everyone we knew was going to the carnival at the mall, but Bram didn’t feel like being around people. I refused to let him be completely alone, which is how we ended up at Waffle House.

We stayed there until after 8pm and even then, I was stalling in the hopes that Bram would change his mind and decide to go to the carnival after all. Bram went out to my car while I paid. Bram had offered, but I had refused. I was kinda hoping that it would guilt Bram when nothing else had worked.

When I got outside, Bram was standing frozen, his hand on the passenger door handle and his eyes glued to his phone. “We’ve got to get to the carnival,” Bram said breathlessly.

“What’s wrong?” I asked. Bram looked terrified.

“Simon sent me an email this morning. I didn’t see it until now. He’s waiting for me at the carnival.”

“Then what are you waiting for? Get it!” I climbed into my car and turned it on. “What are you going to say?”

“Uh…” Bram started to panic.

“Okay, calm down. Let’s practice. Pretend I’m Simon,” I suggested.

“I’m not going to pretend you’re Simon,” Bram warned.

“I’ll even freaking talk like him,” I promised, mimicking Simon. Bram chuckled.

“Still no.”

“Would it help if I put on eyeliner?” I asked.

Bram groaned. “You’re never going to let me forget that, are you?” Bram asked.

“Never. Now, I’m Simon.” I concentrated for a moment and tried to think about how this could happen. “Hey Bram! Are you enjoying the carnival?” Bram looked out the window, but didn’t say anything. “Come on, this isn’t that hard. He asks you if you’re enjoying the carnival and you say ‘oh I just got here. I was actually looking for someone’. He asks you who you’re looking for and you tell him you’re looking for him. Or you can just go up to him and say ‘Hi Simon, I’m blue.’ or… his nickname was Jacques, right? Say ‘hi Jacques’.”

“I’m gonna throw up,” Bram said nervously. I had a feeling that practicing was only making it worse.

“It’ll be fine. He wants to meet you,” I reminded him.

There were only fifteen minutes left of the carnival when we arrived. The disgruntled looking man in the window reluctantly gave Bram enough tickets for one ride, but warned him that he didn’t have much time. By the looks of it, Bram was painfully aware of that.

“If he’s still here, I know where he’ll be,” Bram whispered.

“Okay. Go for it. I’m here if you need anything,” I promised. I lingered right inside the entrance. Most people were gone and there were just a handful that were getting in one last ride. I didn’t feel like walking around. I would never admit it, but I was nervous for Bram.

I waited twenty minutes, but when they started closing down the rides, I began to look for Bram. I froze when I spotted him and I could feel a huge smile cross my face. Simon and Bram were sitting on a curb next to the Tilt-A-Whirl. They were holding hands and while I couldn’t see their faces, I knew they were smiling.

I turned my back on them. I didn’t want to intrude on their moment, but I also didn’t want to leave. I was Bram’s ride after all. And part of me was dying to know how this was going to turn out.

They sat there for almost twenty minutes until a carnival worker told them they had to leave. I waited in the entrance that whole time. I was pretty sure this is what it felt like to be a wingman.

Bram was quiet and had a goofy smile on his face the entire drive back to his house. “I’m going to come out,” he whispered as we pulled up to his house.

“Huh?” I asked confused.

“At school. I’m not going to hide this,” he explained. I expected him to look nervous, but he looked too happy to be nervous.

“Good for you,” I said sincerely. “So did you and Spier have a nice talk tonight?”

“We actually didn’t talk,” Bram admitted.

I actually put my car in park and turned to look at him. “What?”

“I don’t know. I didn’t think we had to.” He looked nervous now as if my reaction unnerved him.

“Dude, you like need to be on the same page about stuff. If you don’t talk, how are you going to do that?” I asked.

Bram frowned. “I guess we can talk tomorrow during lunch.” He looked thoughtful as he got out of my car and I had to hope that he would figure that out.

The next day, he and Simon were mysteriously absent from lunch. Abby wasted no time in sharing her theory with the table. I stayed out of it. It was their business if they wanted to tell anyone else. I certainly wasn’t going to do it for them.

Three weeks later, I was sitting on Bram’s bed pretending to do work. “So when are you and Spier gonna go on a date?” I asked as I casually flipped a page in my textbook.

Bram looked at me nervously. “I don’t know. I want to, but this is Georgia,” he told me. “We’re both kind of reluctant for that.”

“I’m not gonna lie, there might be some really like not-so-great people in Georgia, but that shouldn’t matter. I mean you guys said screw it and are out at school. That’s the hard part. Now you get to enjoy it. But you can’t do that if you don’t try,” I warned. Nick and I had practically rehearsed this speech when Abby found us after soccer practice and demanded that we intervene with Simon and Bram.

He groaned. “You’re right,” he grumbled.

“I would go with you if it would help, but this is something you and Spier gotta do alone.”

Bram frowned. “Yeah,” he agreed.

“Call him. Now,” I pressed.

“Why now?” Bram asked.

“Because if you don’t call him now, you’ll think of a reason why you shouldn’t and then you’ll never go on a date with him,” I pointed out.

Bram sighed as he pulled out his phone. He called Simon and within a couple of minutes, they had a date scheduled.

I smiled at Bram. I am seriously the greatest wingman ever.

Six years later, after we graduated from high school, Bram, Nick, Simon, and I were getting dinner and were reminiscing about high school and college. It was one of the rare moments where we were all visiting our parents at the same time and were able to coordinate getting together.

Nick had been sharing a recent embarrassing experience where he had to be the wingman for his roommate and it had gone very, very poorly.

“Not everyone can be as good as me,” I boasted. I had a couple of drinks in me, which was making my tongue a little looser.

“Yeah. I’m sure you are flawless,” Nick said sarcastically.

“For the record. I am the greatest wingman ever,” I proclaimed.

“How do you mean?” Bram asked.

“Are you kidding? I was the best wingman you ever had,” I pointed out. It was hard work jump-starting his and Simon’s relationship.

Bram started to nod before he looked at me confused. “Wait. Doesn’t a wingman usually help a guy hook up with a girl?”

“Well, I know that’s your traditional wingman. But in this case, your wingman would be the person that helped you get together with Simon and then… fanned the flames a little to jumpstart your relationship.” I looked between Simon and Bram suggestively.

Bram was thoughtful for a minute. “You can call yourself the greatest wingman, but I think I’d prefer to call you something else.”

“What’s that?” I asked curiously.

Simon and Bram exchanged knowing looks. They both had mischievous smiles on their face that made me and Nick even more curious.

“Okay you two, what’s going on? You’ve been acting weird all night,” Nick grumbled. He hated being left out of the loop and I can’t say I’m much better.

“I’d like to call you my best man,” Bram finally said.

“Don’t you have to get enga-” I cut myself off mid word and looked back and forth between Simon and Bram so quickly, my neck started to hurt. “You got engaged?”

Nick started choking on the sip of water he had just taken. Simon and Bram both had huge, goofy smiles on their faces. “We’re engaged,” Simon agreed.

I smiled big. “You can call me your best man, but I am definitely going to refer to myself as the greatest wingman at multiple points during my speech and I will take full credit for your relationship.”

“I’d expect nothing less,” Bram told me.


End file.
